I PAGLIACCI / GIANNI SCHICCHI
Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci and Puccini's Gianni Schicchi
Connecticut Lyric Opera presents a twin-bill of contrasting Verismo masterpieces - Leoncavallo's chilling drama of I Pagliacci and Puccini's hillarious Gianni Schicchi.
Fri. April 30, 8pm - For tickets click here
Trinity-on-Main Performance Center, New Britain
Sat. May 8, 7:30pm - For tickets click here
The Garde Arts Center, New London
Sat. May 15, 7:30pm - For tickets click here
Middletown High School
Sun. May 23, 6pm - For tickets click here
The Palace Theater, Waterbury
Conductor - Adrian Sylveen Mackiewicz
Director - Yefim Maizel
Chorus Master - Pawel Jura
Technical Director - Peter Strand
Canio / Rinuccio - Daniel Kamalic
Silvio / Gianni Schicchi - Maksim Ivanov
Nedda / Lauretta - Jurate Svedaite
Opening with I Pagliacci (The Clowns), the story of the brutal Canio - opera's most famous sad clown - and his passionate, faithless wife, Nedda, as their traveling theater troupe brings its play to life with tragic consequences. Featuring a hunchback who's as evil as he is ugly, one of the great tenor arias of all time, “Vesti la giuba,” and some rousing peasant choruses, I Pagliacci includes a play within the play which juxtaposes the tragedy of the private lives of Leoncavallo's clowns with the rustic humor of the Commedia.
As a comic foil, Gianni Schicchi is as light and uproarious as I Pagliacci is dark and gripping, and is based on an incident from Dante's Inferno. It is the story of Gianni Schicchi, a cunning commoner, who outwits a pack of greedy Florentine nobles and finagles a fortune for himself, his daughter Lauretta and her beloved Rinuccio. Gianni Schicchi is one of the funniest operas you'll ever see and is teeming with comedic elements such as money-grubbing relatives, fake deaths, and a frantic family fighting amongst themselves. Highlighting the score is one of opera’s most beloved soprano arias, “O mio babbino caro.”
The cast of this spirited evening of comedy and tragedy includes internationally acclaimed tenor Daniel Kamalic (Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus), radiant Lithuanian soprano Jurate Svediate (Violetta in La Traviata), commanding Russian baritone Maxim Ivanov (the title role in last season ’s Eugene Onegin) and dynamic young bass Laurentiu Rotaru (Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin). CLO’s Artistic and General Director, Adrian Sylveen, will lead them accompanied by the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and a twenty-plus voice chorus of talented local singers to present an unforgettable night of opera magic.
I Pagliacci / Gianni Schicchi will premiere in New London on April 26th at The Garde and repeated in the New Middletown High School Auditorium on May 1st, in New Britain on May 3rd at Trinity-on-Main Performance Hall and in Woodstock, CT on May 9th.
All performances are co-presented with CLO's resident orchestra, the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra.
